US6914896B1

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Publication number: US6914896B1
Application number: US09/434,640
Authority: US
Inventors: Richard S. Tomalewicz
Original assignee: Rockwell Electronic Commerce Technologies LLC
Current assignee: Rockwell Firstpoint Contact Corp; Wilmington Trust NA
Priority date: 1999-11-05
Filing date: 1999-11-05
Publication date: 2005-07-05
Anticipated expiration: 2019-11-05

Abstract

A method and apparatus are provided for processing a public safety call. The method includes the steps of receiving the public safety call and determining a geographic source of the public safety call. The method further includes the steps of determining an environment of the geographic source of the public safety call, identifying a resource to handle the public safety call based upon the determined environment and forwarding the call to the identified resource.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The field of the invention relates to communication systems and more particularly to the routing of 9-1-1 calls in a telephonic communication system.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The use of the 9-1-1 number sequence to route telephone calls related to public safety is a well-known feature in many areas. As a 9-1-1 call is received by a central switching office (CSO) of the public switched telephone network (PSTN), the central switching office recognizes the number sequence as being a public safety call and routes the call to a public safety attended position (PSAP) at a local municipality.

An agent of the local municipality assigned to the PSAP takes the call and collects information from the caller (e.g., the reason for the call, the name of the caller, the address, etc.). Based upon the nature of the call, the agent may request assistance from the appropriate public service agency (e.g., police, fire, social services, etc.) and direct the requested assistance to the collected address.

In some areas, processing of 9-1-1 calls is expedited by information provided by the local CSO of the PSTN. For instance, automatic number identification (ANI) services operating from within the PSTN may be used to provide a telephone number of a caller to the PSAP agent at the same time as the call is delivered to the agent.

With the telephone number of the caller, the PSAP agent may be to help the caller without any further information. For example, if the caller is a young child who cannot give or does not know the address, the PSAP agent may determine the address based upon the telephone number. With the address, the PSAP agent may dispatch a social services worker or the police to further determine the source of the problem. Similarly, if the PSAP agent hears sounds of a struggle or choking, the PSAP agent may dispatch help in some appropriate manner.

While the existing method of processing 9-1-1 calls is effective in some cases, it deficient in others. For example, without any indication of a reason for a call, all calls must be routed to a common public service dispatcher. The common dispatcher must then, if possible, determine the reason for a call and forward the call to the proper public service agency, thereby providing an extra step in the resolution of the problem. Further, when civil strife or public emergency arises, the call processing capability of local PSAP agents may be quickly exceeded. Accordingly, a need exists for a method of processing 9-1-1 calls that is dynamic in nature and able to route calls based upon a context of the call.

SUMMARY

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system for processing public safety calls in accordance with an illustrated embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 depicts a packet message that may be send to a host of the system ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 3 depicts a packet that may be sent from the host to a selected public safety entity of the system ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 4 depicts a CPU and display that may be used to place calls to the system ofFIG. 1; and

FIG. 5 depicts a reconfiguration of the system ofFIG. 1 in the case of a natural or man-made disaster.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of asystem10 that may be used to route public safety calls in accordance with an illustrated embodiment of the invention. APSTN32 may be used with thesystem10 to receive and forward conventional 9-1-1 calls from acaller42. Included within thesystem10 is ahost34 that may also function to receive public safety calls from anIP caller44.

Public safety calls received by the PSTN32 andhost34 may be routed to an automatic call distributor (ACD) of a selected municipality (hereinafter sometimes referred to as

municipality

12,22 based upon database information contained in

databases

36,38,40. From a selected

municipality

12,22, a public safety call may be routed by the ACD to a PSAP agent based upon factors associated with each particular agent. Distribution of calls to agents through one or more ACDs is a technology well known in the art and, therefore, will not be discussed further, except were necessary for an understanding of the invention.

It should be noted that each agent station ofFIG. 1 may include an

agent telephone

14,18,24,28 and a

respective agent terminal

16,20,26,30. For convenience, reference made to an agent herein may be by the device of a particular workstation that the agent is using. For example, when PSAPagent #1 is using histelephone14, he may be referred to as PSAPagent14. WhenPSAP agent #1 is using an associatedterminal16, he may be referred to asPSAP agent16.

As used herein, any expedited call from a caller to a public entity (e.g., police, fire, etc.) for public services regarding the safety, health or well-being of the caller is defined as a public safety call. A public safety call may originate from and be routed under any of a number of different formats. A 9-1-1 call to the local CSO may be regarded as a public safety call. Alternatively, an e-mail message or other appropriately formatted packet transmissions to the website of a public safety entity may be considered a public safety call.

Under the illustrated embodiment, public safety calls may be delivered to a selected public safety entity (e.g., a municipality) under a number of different methods. Under a first simple example, acaller42 may dial 9-1-1. The call may be received by the PSTN32 as a switched circuit call along with the telephone number of the caller based upon an ANI resource operating from within the PSTN32.

Within the PSTN32, aCPU64 may recognize the call as a public safety call by the dialed digits and may compose a data packet90 (FIG. 2) for transmission to thehost34. The data packet may include aheader92 containing the IP address of thehost34 and also afield94 containing the telephone number of thecaller42. The packet may also include acall identifier96 assigned by theCPU64 for identification purposes. TheCPU64 may transfer the composed packet through anInternet gateway50 andInternet connection52 to thehost34.

Upon receipt of the packet by thehost34, the host34 (by reference to a Master Street Address Guide database36) may identify a geographic source (e.g., a street address, latitude and longitude, etc.) of the call. Following recovery of the geographic source, thehost34 may access

other databases

38,40 to determine an environment of the call. As used herein, the term “environment” may be any factor which affects selection of a public safety entity for responding to a public safety call from that geographic source.

For instance, if the caller were to be calling from a pay phone in a forest preserve, then a different public safety entity (e.g., a park service) may have responsibility for public safety matters at that geographic location than if the call were to originate in a residential area. Further, if the caller were to originate along an interstate highway then the subject matter of the call would more appropriately be a matter for the state police than a local police department.

Once an environment of a public safety call has been determined then thehost34 may select an appropriate public safety entity to handle the call. Thehost34 may select the entity best suited to handle the call based upon the geographic source of the call and the specific environment of the call source. The criteria for selecting the public service entity may be recovered by reference to

databases

38,40 in thehost34.

In the example above, the criteria for selecting a public service entity may specify that a call from within the environs of a state park should be routed to state part authorities. A call from a city park should be routed to city authorities. A call from a federal reservation should be routed to federal authorities.

Upon selecting a public safety entity (e.g.,municipality #112), thehost34 may compose a message104 (FIG. 3) for transfer to the selectedentity12 through theInternet connection52. Themessage104 may include a header106 (e.g., containing an IP address of aCPU56 of the selected entity12), anidentifier108 of the call (e.g., the telephone number of the caller, identifier assigned by the PSTN, an IP address of the caller, etc.), a geographic source110 (e.g., an address, latitude and longitude, etc.) of the call, an indication of theenvironment112 of the caller and anyoptional messages114.

Upon composing themessage104, thehost34 may proceed to transfer themessage104 to theselected municipality12. At themunicipality12, theCPU56 may receive and store themessage104 received via theInternet connection52. To complete the process, thehost34 may also take steps to create a voice path between thecaller42 and selectedentity12.

Creation of the voice-path between thecaller42 and the selectedpublic safety entity12 may be accomplished using one of at least two different methods depending upon the capacity of theIP gateway50 andInternet connection52 with the local CSO of thePSTN32. Under a first method, thehost34 may send a call transfer message to thePSTN32 instructing thePSTN32 to transfer the call to the selectedmunicipality12.

The call transfer message may include the identifier of the call and a local telephone number of the selectedpublic safety entity12. TheCPU64 of thePSTN32 receives the call transfer instruction and transfers the call to the selectedpublic safety entity12.

When the transferred call arrives at the selectedpublic safety entity12, theCPU56 matches the ID of the transferred call with the ID of the storedpacket104. Based upon the geographic source and environmental information within the retrieved packet, theCPU56 may select the most

appropriate PSAP agent

14,18 to receive the transferred call. Selection may be based upon which agent had been idle the longest or based upon some expertise in handling calls from the geographic source and environment provided in the associatedmessage104. Upon selecting an agent, theCPU56 instructs theswitch58 to connect the transferred call to the

agent

14,18. At the same time, theCPU56 may cause a screen pop on the terminal16,20 of the selected agent providing the geographic source and environment of the public safety call.

In the alternative, thehost34 may transfer the call to the selectedpublic safety entity12 using Internet telephony (voice-over-IP). To accomplish the voice-over-IP connection, thehost34 may include a specific request for a voice-over-IP connection within theoriginal Internet message104. The request may be included as anoptional field114 of themessage104. Transferring the call as voice-over-IP allows the call to be handled by any of a variety of selected public safety entities without the possibility of long distance charges accruing to thecaller42.

Upon receiving the composed message, theCPU56 of the selectedentity12 may select an

agent

16,20. TheCPU56 may select a

PSAP agent

16,20 based upon any appropriate criteria. As above, selection may be based upon which agent had been idle the longest or based upon some expertise in handling calls from the geographic source and environment provided within themessage104.

Upon selecting an

agent

16,20, theCPU56 may transfer themessage104, including the geographic source and environment information, to the select agent's terminal16 along with the IP address of thegateway50 ofPSTN32. The terminal16,20 of the selected

agent

14,18 receives the information and may send a request for an Internet telephony connection using the IP address of theIP gate50. TheIP gate50 and

terminal

16,20 of the selected agent form the Internet telephony connection, theIP gate50 connects the voice channel of thecaller42 to the voice plug of the Internet telephony connection and the caller and selected agent begin may begin conversing.

Under another illustrated embodiment of the invention, thePSTN caller42 may be using a cellular telephone. In this case, ANI information delivered along with the call may be insufficient to identify a geographic source and, in fact, may only indicate the billing address of the cellular telephone, instead of an actual location.

In order to locate thecellular caller42, thehost34 may query thePSTN32 for the network source of the call (e.g., the identity of an originatingcellular system66 from which the call originates). Upon knowing the originatingcellular telephone system66, thehost34 now has a general area of the geographical source. To obtain a more precise geographical source, thehost34 may transmit a request to thecellular system66 for information regarding cellular base transceiver stations (BTSs)68,70,72 receiving a signal from thecellular caller42.

As is well known in the cellular arts, handoff of signal transmission from one BTS to another is typically based upon indicia of geographical location of acellular caller42 among BTSs. Indicia of geographical location may be obtained based upon signal strength and timing advance measurements performed by BTSs surrounding acellular unit42. Further indication of geographical location may be obtained by the identity of sectorized antenna used at each BTS.

By identifying BTSs receiving a signal from thecellular unit42, thehost34 may determine a latitude and longitude of each surrounding BTS. From the identity of sectorized antenna and signal strengths of the surrounding BTSs, thehost34 may triangulate a precise geographical source of thecellular user42. Timing advance of the surrounding BTSs may be used to further improve upon the accuracy of the measurement.

With a geographic source of the signal from thecellular user42, thehost34 may now determine an environment of the user's location. While the location of the geographic source may correlate to a street address, it is not necessary that there be a correlation. For example, thecaller42 may be in a boat suffering some sort of malfunction affecting the safety of thecaller42.

By determining a geographical source in terms of a latitude and longitude, thehost34 may determine the environment to be within the confines of a lake or wilderness area. If the location is determined to be within a lake area, thehost34 may determine that the selected public service entity should be the U.S. Coast Guard, or some other lake rescue unit. Once the public service entity has been identified, thehost34 may proceed as described above by transferring the call, including geographic source and environment, to the selected

entity

12,22.

In another embodiment of the invention, thecellular transceiver42 may be incorporated into aautomatic crash sensor42 of an automobile and which is triggered by impact. As above, the geographical location of the caller42 (and automobile) may be determined by triangulation among BTSs. A transmitted signal of thecrash sensor42 may be limited to a control channel of thecellular system66 or may also be transmitted on an assigned voice channel.

As such, indication that thecaller42 is a crash sensor may be included in a channel request to a local BTS on a control channel. The indication may be forwarded from thecellular system66 to thePSTN32 and to thehost34 as part of the ANI information or as an ISDN user-to-user information element on an expedited basis. By forwarding indication that thecaller42 is a crash sensor, thehost34 may determine from the call associated data and

databases

36,38,40 that on a first level the environment is a crash scene. By determining the geographic source of the call and by further reference to

databases

38,40, thehost34 may be able to gain further information regarding the environment and select a fire rescue unit closest to the geographic source of the transmission as the public safety entity to respond to the call. Thehost34 may transfer the information to the selected

public safety entity

12,22 as described above.

Thehost34 may store and maintain records by geographic source as to all public safety calls of a certain type and may be able to automatically generate reports on dangerous locations. By correlating public safety calls from crash sensors in time, thehost34 may be able to detect multi-vehicle accidents, thereby improving upon the scale of a response by a selected

public service entity

12,22.

Under another illustrated embodiment of the invention, a personal computer (PC)44 may used to place a call for public safety assistance via the Internet either through thePSTN32 or using adirect connection46 between thePC44 and thehost34. Where thePC44 requests assistance through thePSTN32, the connection may be either bydirect connection48 or via thecellular system66.

The features of thePC44 may be implemented on any of a number of computer platforms (e.g., IBM PC, ThinkPad, Palm Pilot, home security system, etc). For example, where the features of the PC A4 are provided on a Palm Pilot a cellular transceiver86 (FIG. 4) may be provided as an interface between thePC44 andcellular system66.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of thePC44 under an illustrated embodiment. As shown, thePC44 may be provided with adisplay74 andCPU76. On thedisplay74, a set of

icons

78,80 may be provided for placing calls for public safety assistance. If a user of thePC44 were to require police assistance, the user would place a cursor over thepolice icon78 and activate a selector. Similarly, if the user of thePC44 were to require fire assistance, the user would place a cursor over thefire icon80 and activate the selector button. A voice-over-IP resource90 may be provided for the automatic exchange of voice information with an assigned PSAP agent following activation of an appropriate icon.

In the case of ahome security system44, the system may be configured to detect the type of help required. For example, thehome security system44 may have heat or smoke detectors to detect a fire. Alternatively, thesystem44 may have glass breakage or motion detectors to detect a burglary.

Upon activation of an

icon

78,80 or detection of a home security threat, theCPU76 may compose apacket message104 for transmission to thehost34. The packet would contain a header106 (i.e., a first information field) containing an IP address of thehost34 and a body containing a number of other information fields. Asecond field108 may contain an identifier of a user of thePC44. Athird field110 may contain an indicator of a geographic location of thePC44. Afourth field112 may contain an indicator of the environment which prompted the request (e.g., crime scene, fire, etc.). Afifth field114 may be provided for optional information.

The geographical source of the transmission contained in thethird field110 may be obtained from external sources. In general, however, where thePC44 is a stationary device located in the user's home, the third field may be used as the exclusive indication of geographical source. In this case, the user may enter his home address into the third field as an exclusive indication of geographic source.

The fourth field may be used to further define environmental conditions or geographic location. For example, where the user activates an icon, an optional text window may open for the user to enter additional geographic or environmental information, which may then be transmitted in the fourth or fifth field. As a more specific example, the user may activate the police icon and enter in the text window “There is a burglar in my house and I'm trapped in my bedroom”.

As an alternative to manual entry of geographic information in thethird field110 by the user, thePC44 may be provided with a global positioning system (GPS)receiver88. TheGPS88 may periodically determine the position of thePC44 and transfer the determined position in terms of longitude and latitude to amemory area84. The determined geographic information may then be entered into the third field when amessage104 is composed.

As a further alternative, the primary source of geographic source may be obtained from a source external to the PC44 (e.g., the cellular system66) and the third field may be used as a flag to thehost34 to request the geographic source through thecellular system66. For example, where thePC44 is a Palm Pilot, the primary source of geographic location may be triangulation of a cellular signal from thecellular transceiver86 of thePC44 by

BTSs

68,70,72 as described above. In this case, the fourth and fifth fields may contain optional geographic or environmental information entered by the user. For example, the user may press the FIRE icon and enter “I'm trapped on the third floor” into the fourth or fifth fields. Alternatively, the caller may request a voice connection using theoptional field114 and theVOIP facility90.

Upon receipt of a packet message from aPC44, thehost34 processes the information based upon information content. Where thePC44 is a stationary computer in the user's home, thehost34 recovers the geographic source from thethird field110 and any auxiliary environmental information from the fourth and

fifth fields

112,114.

As above, thehost34 makes a preliminary determination of the environment from

databases

38,40 based upon the geographic source information located in thethird field110 or information received from thecellular system66. Following a determination of a geographic source and environment of the call, thehost34 for select a

public safety entity

12,22 and composemessage104 to the selected

entity

12,22.

As above, thehost34 may transfer a request to the selected

entity

12,22 for an Internet telephony connection between thePC44 and assigned agent of the selected

entity

12,22. The request for the voice-over-IP may be contained in theoptional field114 of themessage104. The PSAP agent assigned to the call may gather further information through the voice-over-IP connection and dispatch an appropriate response.

It should be noted, that in some cases, assignment of a PSAP agent to a call may not be necessary. The additional environmental information contained in the fourth and fifth fields may be used to obviate the need for an agent and to further improve system performance. Further, the use of word search routines in the fourth and fifth fields may improve system performance even further.

For example, while the geographic source of a call may set the general parameters of the call, the information in the fourth and fifth fields may allow thehost34 to differentiate between situations with human life is at risk and situations where only property damage is involved. The ability to differentiate between such situations allows the host to precisely frame a response appropriate to the situation.

In the examples offered above, a recognition by thehost34 of the words “fire” and “trapped” may be used as indication of danger to human life. The term “burglar” or “robbery” may also be used.

In framing a response, thehost34 may consider information from its

own databases

36,38,40 and also databases maintained within the

respective agencies

12,22. For example, where thehost34 receives a packet from thePC44, thehost34 may first determine a geographic location and environment from

databases

36,38,40. If thehost34 should determine that the environment is a fire in an office building, then thehost34 may query databases in a selected

public safety entity

12,22 to determine whether the public safety entity is fighting a fire at that geographic location.

If thehost34 determines that thepublic safety entity12 is fighting a fire at that geographic location, then thehost34 may send a further query requesting the identity of any fire-rescue units present at that location. If a positive response is received from theentity12, then thehost34 may compose a message for transmission directly to a display unit53 (e.g., a display pager type device) carried by fire-rescue units at the scene of the fire. The message may be transmitted through alocal transmitter55 and link51 to theunit53. The displaypager type device53 may display the full message including geographic information and environment for the benefit of the fire-rescue unit.

Under another illustrated embodiment of the invention (FIG.5), thehost34 may automatically reconfigure the structure of public safety entities in response to natural or man-made disasters. For example, if a tornado were to strike alocal police station22 in a first service area100 (FIG.5), thelo host34 may automatically begin routing calls to a second police station11 in asecond service area102.

In preparation for such a change, thehost34 may send notification to aCPU56 of the second police station that such a reconfiguration were about to occur and instructions on the type of reconfiguration. In response, theCPU56 may group its agents accordingly.

For example, a first group of

agents

14,16 may be reserved for calls from theoriginal service area102 of the entity11. A second group of

agents

18,20 may be assigned to receive calls from theservice area100 of thedisabled entity22. Communications links may be established between the second group of

agents

18,20 and

public safety officers

108,110.

With atransceiver104 located in theservice area100 of the disabledfirst police station22 and coupled to the second police station11 through theInternet52, the reconfiguration of communications links may be accomplished seamlessly, without loss of public safety services in any affected

area

100,102. For example, where thedisabled entity22 goes out of service, calls to police or

fire vehicles

108,110 may be routed through thetransceiver104 from the second police station11 bi-directionally using voice-over-IP without interruption in communication or coordination of services.

Further, it should be understood, that while it may be desirable, it is not necessary that a

public safety entity

12,22 be proximate or even near a served area. From a practical point of view, the only necessary quality is that its PSAP agents be capable of handling calls from the assigned area.

By routing public safety calls through thehost34, public safety entities and call handling may be reconfigured dynamically. Further, by providing PSAP agents with access to common databases, there is no longer a need for an agent to be proximate or even familiar with a geographic area to effectively serve callers.

A specific embodiment of a method and apparatus for processing public safety calls according to the present invention has been described for the purpose of illustrating the manner in which the invention is made and used. It should be understood that the implementation of other variations and modifications of the invention and its various aspects will be apparent to one skilled in the art, and that the invention is not limited by the specific embodiments described. Therefore, it is contemplated to cover the present invention and any and all modifications, variations, or equivalents that fall within the true spirit and scope of the basic underlying principles disclosed and claimed herein.

Claims

1. A method of processing a public safety call, comprising the steps of:

receiving the public safety call;

determining a geographic source of the public safety call;

determining an environment of the geographic source of the public safety call;

identifying a resource to handle the public safety call based upon the determined source and environment of the call;

selecting a public safety attended position of the identified resource; and

forwarding the call to the identified resource.

2. A method of processing a public safety call, comprising the steps of:

receiving the public safety call;

determining a geographic source of the public safety call;

determining an environment of the geographic source of the public safety call;

correlating the received public safety call with other received public safety calls from the environs of the determined geographic source;

identifying a resource to handle the public safety call based upon the determined source and environment of the call; and

forwarding the call to the identified resource.

3. A method of processing a public safety call, comprising the steps of:

receiving the public safety call as a packet message from an Internet connection;

detecting and decoding the packet message to determine a geographical source of the public safety call from a data field embedded within the packet;

determining an environment of the geographic source of the public safety call;

forwarding the call to the identified resource.

4. The method of processing public safety calls as inclaim 3 wherein the step of receiving the call as a packet message from an Internet connection further comprises receiving a web telephony call.

5. The method of processing public safety calls as inclaim 3 wherein the step of receiving the call as a packet message from an Internet connection further comprises receiving an e-mail message.

6. A method of processing a public safety call, comprising the steps of:

receiving the public safety call;

determining a geographic source of the public safety call;

determining an environment of the geographic source of the public safety call;

forwarding an Internet address of the caller to the identified resource.

7. The method of processing public safety calls as inclaim 6 wherein the step of forwarding an Internet address of the caller to the identified resource further comprises including a request to form an Internet telephony voice connection with the public safety caller.

8. Apparatus for processing a public safety call, comprising:

means for receiving the public safety call;

means for determining a geographic source of the public safety call;

means for determining an environment of the geographic source of the public safety call;

means for identifying a resource to handle the public safety call based upon the determined source and environment of the call;

means for selecting a public service attended position of the identified resource; and

means for forwarding the call to the identified resource.

9. Apparatus for processing a public safety call, comprising:

means for receiving the public safety call as a packet message from an Internet connection;

means for detecting and decoding the packet message to determine a geographical source of the packet message from a data field embedded within the packet message;

means for identifying a resource to handle the public safety call based upon the determined source and environment of the call; and

means for forwarding the call to the identified resource.

10. The apparatus for processing public safety calls as inclaim 9 wherein the means for receiving the call as a packet message from an Internet connection further comprises means for receiving a web telephony call.

11. The apparatus for processing public safety calls as inclaim 9 wherein the means for receiving the call as a packet message from an Internet connection further comprises means for receiving an e-mail message.

12. Apparatus for processing a public safety call, comprising:

means for receiving the public safety call;

means for determining a geographic source of the public safety call;

means for forwarding an Internet address of the caller to the identified resource.

13. The apparatus for processing public safety calls as inclaim 12 wherein the means for forwarding an Internet address of the caller to the identified resource further comprises means for including a request to form an Internet telephony voice connection with the public safety caller.

14. Apparatus for processing a public safety call, comprising:

a call processor adapted to receive the public safety call;

a first database adapted to determine a geographic source of the public safety call;

an environment processor adapted to determine an environment of the geographic source of the public safety call;

a resource processor adapted to identifying a resource to handle the public safety call based upon the determined source and environment of the call;

an automatic call distributor adapted to select a public service attended position of a municipality identified by the resource processor; and

a communication processor adapted to forward the call to the identified resource.

15. Apparatus for processing a public safety call, comprising:

a call processor adapted to receive the public safety call;

a correlation processor adapted to correlate the received public safety call with other received public safety calls from the environs of the determined geographic source;

a resource processor adapted to identifying a resource to handle the public safety call based upon the determined source and environment of the call; and

16. The apparatus for processing public safety calls as inclaim 15 further comprising an Internet connection adapted to receive the public safety call as a packet message.

17. Apparatus for processing a public safety call, comprising:

a call processor adapted to receive the public safety call as a packet message;

a packet processor adapted to detect and decode a geographical source of the packet message by comparing a data field of the packet with a content of a first database;

18. The apparatus for processing public safety calls as inclaim 17 wherein the packet processor further comprises an web telephony processor adapted to receive a web telephony call.

19. The apparatus for processing public safety calls as inclaim 17 wherein the packet processor further comprises an e-mail processor adapted to receive an e-mail message.

20. Apparatus for processing a public safety call, comprising:

a call processor adapted to receive the public safety call;

a communication processor adapted to compose an Internet packet including an Internet address of the caller and to forward the composed packet to the identified resource.

21. The apparatus for processing public safety calls as inclaim 20 wherein the Internet packet further comprises a data field adapted to include a request to form an Internet telephony voice connection with the public safety caller.